


Terminal Velocity

by OneJumpFromEden



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/F, F/M, Fallen Angels, Minor Religious Themes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:25:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3759580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneJumpFromEden/pseuds/OneJumpFromEden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexa will never forget the day the Angels came.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fall

Lexa remembers her days before the Fall. It saddens her to know that there are some adults now who do not.

She recalls the day vividly, as though always seeing it for the first time. A normal day, unspectacular. She waited for Anya's mother to come and give Lexa her ride to school. One moment, the sky was bright and blue, the next, an explosion, a great flash-bang that shook the air, made Lexa's ears pop and her hair stand on end. The smell of ozone enveloped the city as she blinked away the dark spots on her eyes. She looked up again, and the sky had returned to normal. She glanced around at the surrounding populace, and though they had all stopped to stare at the sky, a few were already turning, banishing it from their minds.

They couldn't ignore the giant metal spacecraft that came crashing down from the heavens.

They couldn't ignore the sirens, the dead, the smoking crater on the edge of the city.

They couldn't ignore the angels.


	2. Forgive us our Trespasses

Lexa felt her wristband tingle on her wrist. She cursed, and sped up her pace, maneuvering around the trash that littered the sidewalk and the beggars curled up under store awnings. She spore a glance at one of them. Marked. She turned her nose up in disgust as he pitifully shook his near-empty paper cup, the few coins inside clanging discordantly off each other.

Lexa had no time for The Marked, the criminals who had somehow slithered their way out of the ultimate punishment. She was running late for work, the incessant buzzing of her wristband told her so. She cursed Anya again for allowing her to neglect the time. She didn't need this. She knew if she was caught, it was only her first offence, she would get away with a warning. No Mark. No Marks for being late, unless it was a habit. Lexa did not intend to let this become a habit.

She pulled back the sleeve of her jacket to check the time. 15:25, if she hurried, she might make it just on time. She picked up her pace again, head too occupied with her destination to pay much attention to the journey. She dropped her sleeve and her arm again, looking up just on time to collide with something soft and warm, but un-moving.

The coffee tumbler she'd been carrying fell from her hands and she stumbled back a few steps with an indignant huff. Cursing once more under her breath, she bent to pick it up hastily, and shot back up again, intending to send whoever she had collided with either an apology or a glare, depending. What she saw when she finally made eye contact with the stranger made her freeze and bite her tongue.

Blue.

Blue of the oceans. Blue of the skies and nebulae.

Blue of the Angels.

Shit.

She saw it now. The radiant opal irises, indecisive, never quite settling for one particular shade. Her hair, the golden-corn threads illuminated by the sunlight casting a veritable halo. And her skin, smooth porcelain, unblemished apart from the barely-there white scars swirling across her cheeks, signifying, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was an Angel.

“I-I'm so sorry I was in a rush and I wasn't watching where I was going and-” Lexa rushed in one breath before the Angel cut her off by raising a hand. Lexa snapped her mouth shut immediately, gulping visibly. But no anger distored the Angel's face, rather, a small smile graced it.

“It's all right, it was an accident. I mean, I assume you didn't purposely run into me?” Lexa quickly, silently shook her head. The Angel smiled wider, “see? No harm done. Where were you running off to?”

Oh snap. Lexa, unthinkingly let a hand fly up to her forehead, smacking it.

“Shi-shoot. Work. I was running late for work, I am running late for work,” Lexa was dimly aware of the vibrating of her band growing more urgent, but she was too enamored by the radiant beauty standing in front of her. She thought of getting summoned to the Enclave due to her tardiness for punishment, and it sobered her up fairly quickly, “I uh, I've never been late before, I didn't want to get written up-”

“Where do you work?” The Angel interjected, the business-like tone startling Lexa for a moment. This is more what she was used to hearing from their kind, and not the friendly, forgiving smiles.

“I ah, A2, I do janitorial stuff,” she supplied pathetically, blushing. Not the most prestigious of jobs, and certainly not a line she usually fed to pretty girls. Not that she was exactly trying anything with this particular pretty girl. This Angel.

“Oh I know the A2 Building. I mean I'm pretty sure everyone knows it but anyway...why don't you come with me?” The Angel smiled again, and quirked her head. Lexa's blood ran cold at the invitation. Go with her where? To Ma'at? To be punished? Lexa's fear must have been evident on her face because the Angel interrupted her thoughts (yet again) to placate her worries. “I can explain the situation there, and get you out of trouble. It was my fault you're late really,” she sent Lexa a cheeky wink, and Lexa almost died because holy shit, an ANGEL just winked at her, “so they should let it slide if I explain. I mean it helps that I know your boss.”

“My boss?”

“The head-honcho over in A2. Technically not your direct employer but anyway, you coming?” The Angel had started to walk in the direction of The A, and Lexa decided to take a chance and follow her. The Angel smiled once more as they walked, Lexa one step behind her out of respect. Noticing this, the Angel huffed a laugh, and fell into step beside Lexa. She thrust a hand toward Lexa across her body.

“I'm Clarke,” she says as Lexa takes her hand.

“Lexa.”

The Angel- Clarke, lets their hands fall away naturally as they walk, and Lexa finds herself missing the glorious warmth.

The crowd parts for them once they see exactly what Clarke is. Some of them shoot Lexa disbelieving looks, as if to say how dare she walk beside one of them, but if Clarke notices the scandalised glances, she ignores them with that same sunny smile on her face.

They arrive at the aptly named Ark 2, A2, named after the Angels' original crashed spacecraft. Clarke stepped through the automatic doors without hesitation and gestured for Lexa to follow, but she paused, looking unsure. Use of the automatic doors was generally reserved only for Angels, and there could be repercussions for unauthorised use, especially seeing as Lexa was already breaking a rule just by being late. But when her eyes met Clarke's, the blonde gave her an small encouraging nod, almost missed. It gave Lexa the push she needed to step through.

Once Clarke saw her through, she strode casually up to the building's reception desk, and tossed her hair back as she leaned an elbow on it. The recptionist was standing a few feet back, facing the photocopier, and she told Clarke to wait just a moment when she cleared her throat to catch the girl's attention. When she turned around to face Clarke, Lexa saw the photocopied sheets slip and fall to the ground with a dull swish and clatter.

“Oh geez, Clar- Miss Griffin, sorry about that, I was pretty absorbed with some stuff Jaha wanted copied for a meeting later. How can I help you?” The dark haired girl slid back into her seat after she'd quickly gathered the pages back into a messy pile and deposited it to the side.

“Really Octavia, Clarke is fine. I wouldn't have told you my name if I didn't want you to use it,” she gave Octavia the reassuring smile and Lexa was starting to really, really like that smile, “do you think you could give Kane a buzz? I have a little issue I need sorted out,” she said, cocking her head to Lexa, who was still standing just in the threshold of the door, stock still. Octavia sent her a glare.

“An issue? Miss Gri- Clarke, if there's a problem I can call security-”

“That won't be necessary Octavia,” Clarke's voice hardened, returning to the normal demeanor of an Angel, a superior, before it faded again as quickly as it arrived, “just call Marcus and let him know I'm here, okay?”

Octavia nodded wordlessly before she picked up the phone and began to dial, still frowning in Lexa's direction. Clarke, to her credit, gave Octavia another placating look, before strolling over to the white leather sofa in reception and plopping down on one, her arms automatically draping across the back of it, her body exposed. She was facing the door, and therefore, Lexa, and she raised a questioning brow.

“You're allowed to sit you know,” she said, grinning as she propped her boots up on he low black coffee table in front of her. Lexa wondered as she walked towards Clarke, taking in her relaxed pose. It was almost as if the Angel had never been afraid of anything in her life. Lexa realised, when she reached the couch that, as one of the Angels, Clarke probably had never been afraid. She had no reason to.

Lexa turned and sat, as far from Clarke as possible, perched on the edge of the couch. She avoided eye contact, pulling at the holes in her black jeans. She felt almost like a stain, her dirty, tanned, calloused hands and worn, dark clothing against the stark white leather. She quickly glanced at Clarke's attire, noting the off-white of the shirt that clung to her arms, the unblemished light blue of her jeans. Through the thin shirt material, Lexa saw on her sleeve something dark on her skin, twisting and turning up the length of her arm. A tattoo?

“See something you like?” Clarke called her out cheekily, having caught onto her stare. Lexa quickly averted her eyes and felt an unfamiliar warmth creep onto her face.

“It's just that, well, I've never seen an Angel with a tattoo before...”  
Clarke only smiled knowingly as Lexa looked over to meet her eyes again.

“It is a bit unusual, I'll admit but-”

“Miss Griffin, you wanted to speak with me?”

A man's voice called and Lexa looked in the direction of the sound. She stiffened further, if it was even possible from her already rigid posture.

“I am Brother Marcus Kane. Seraph First-Class and the Sword of Uriel, Defender of Paradise,” he said once he saw Lexa. He offered no hand to shake, he simply glared down at her from where he stood, as though her mere existence disgusted him. “And you are?”

“I'm Lexa Woods, Brother. A Grounder from Washington D.C.” She stood to bow her head. She knew who Kane was, he needed no introduction. The Angels' general. When humanity had launched its ace-in-the-hole as a desperate last-ditch effort against the invading Angels, Kane has stood at the topmost point of the wreckage of the original Ark, spread his six wings, ethereal holograms of white light, befitting a Seraph. He had pointed at the bomb as it hurtled toward the Earth, and it simply vanished, dissipated into nothing. Most of the resisting humans had simply bowed the knee then. Anyone who continued to fight, like Lexa's parents, didn't last long in the face of Marcus.

“Tell me Miss Griffin, what, exactly, are you doing here, with a Grounder, no less,” he barely concealed the disdain in his voice at the word “Grounder”.

“She was late to work because of me, I wanted to make sure she wouldn't be punished for it.”

“Done,” he said, clenching his jaw and scowling at Lexa, “well, now that you've been pardoned, I really do think you should at least try to get some work done, don't you?”

Lexa nodded before turning on her heels and all but sprinting to the staircase. She made it up the first flight before she heard hurried footfalls on the steps below her.

“Hey Lexa, wait up!”

Clarke reached her, panting slightly but smiling widely.

“Ah Clarke, thank you for everything. Was there something you needed?” Clarke waved her off, still trying to catch her breath.

“I just...wanted to ask if...you had a phone. I feel kind of bad having inflicted “Marcus-the-great-and-powerful” on you,” she said, huffing out laughter. Lexa's eyes widened at Clarke's mocking of the general, and she glanced down the stairs below her, as though Kane had just been waiting for an excuse to come and fry her ass, “I really forget sometimes how much that guy hates Grounders,” she mused, frowning in thought.

“Well, it's not surprising really. All Angels hate Grounders,” Lexa stated, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. It was the world they lived in. Now Clarke's eyes widened for a second before her frowned deepened and she looked right into Lexa's.

“I don't hate Grounders,” she argued with conviction and Lexa smiled sadly.

“Then you'd be the first,” she shrugged again and turned to leave but she was stopped by a hand lightly gripping her wrist. She looked over her shoulder at Clarke.

“I know my people have done awful things to yours, but I want you to know that not all of us agree with it,” her tone turned deadly serious, and Lexa stared confusedly.

“What do you-”

“I know who you are, Lexa Woods. I know who your parents were.”

“I-”

“Clarke?” I woman's voice sounded distantly from the top of the stairs and Clarke swore quietly, before pressing something into Lexa's hand and turning to run down the stairs. Lexa was still gawping after her when the voice sounded again.

“Clarke is that you?”

“No, just the janitor,” Lexa called back. The woman apologised for disturbing her, and Lexa heard the soft thud of the door closing.

Lexa looked down at the thing Clarke had almost desperately pressed into her hand. A folded piece of paper. She unfurled it to reveal a phone number, followed by a short note.

“Sorry about Kane. Let's meet for coffee some time? -Clarke”

Lexa shook the thoughts of the radiant blonde from her mind and shoved the paper down into her pocket. 

She had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some religious references and crap. There'll be more throughout the story. For now what you need to know is:  
> 1\. Kane's long-ass title. In many versions of the story, Adam and Eve were driven from Eden by a Flaming Sword. The wielder of this sword varies from version to version, though most agree it was either a cherub, or the Archangel Uriel, hence, "Sword of Uriel"  
> 2.Seraphs were basically just angels with six wings, more important than two wings, but not as important as archangels. I think.  
> Unbeta'd (if anyone wants to offer their services???) so all mistakes are mine, yadda-yadda. I'm basically writing this to try work on my pacing a bit, so it's not going to be one of those stories that just kind of tell you everything from the get-go. I intend to build this world slowly. Let me know what you think either here or @hakuna-notatas on tumblr.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be rather sporadic, but I'll try to get them out as frequently as possible. Find me on tumblr @hakuna-notatas


End file.
